Simi Valley, CA Outdoor Lighting: Dark Sky Rules (2026)

040 (Exterior Light and Glare) requires every commercial, industrial, and multi-family lighting plan submitted with a building or parking application to include a point-by-point photometric layout, on a 10-foot grid, extending at least 20 feet past the property line and stamped by a California-registered electrical engineer. Subsection (C)(2) sets a hard fixture-height ceiling: no more than 14 feet for any pole located within 100 feet of a residentially zoned or developed parcel, and no more than 20 feet everywhere else in the project. Subsection (C)(3) requires fixtures to have "sharp cut-off qualities at property lines" and bars exposed lenses outright, the core shielding standard behind dark-sky compliant design.

Subsection (C)(4) limits the swing between the brightest and dimmest points on the site to a 7:1 ratio, preventing hot spots that spill past cutoff shielding, and Subsection (C)(5) flatly prohibits low pressure sodium fixtures regardless of how they are shielded. Subsection (C)(6) folds in the separate illumination-intensity standards of SVMC Title 8, Chapter 21 (Security Standards for Buildings), so a lighting plan has to satisfy both the Development Code's shielding rules and the Building Code's minimum security lighting levels at once. 040" before final approval.